Despite the complete lack of any data demonstrating that caste exists in any significant way in the west, its study has assumed outsized importance in privileged academic and activist circles. Given their power and influence in shaping narrative, we have seen attempts to forcefully build a caste consciousness where none exists; via the use of legislative cudgels, just like the colonial rulers of the Indian subcontinent did in the 19th century.

So, what is the problem with mainstreaming this topic? After all, “caste discrimination is bad, so what’s wrong with banning it?”

If you’ve asked this question—or heard others ask it—here’s why: because these policies repeat the colonial mistake of outsiders defining, categorizing, and governing Indian society from outside and above while creating a discriminatory system exactly of the sort that they claim to want to eliminate….

Our new 3-part series digs into the topic with some historical data, current analysis and ends with a satirical view of how a reverse gaze into the future might look like. Check it out – https://cohna.org/hinduism-caste/

1. How the British hardened the fluid social groups of Hindu society into the rigid caste system we know today. And then called it “ancient Hinduism!” https://tinyurl.com/Caste-Trilogy-Part-1
2. Why US caste legislation CREATES the very problems it claims to solve, even as it repeats the mistakes of colonial rule.
   https://tinyurl.com/Caste-Trilogy-Part-2
3. Reversing the gaze with a satirical report from the distant future, when India colonizers in Britain “discover” their rigid House system through the lens of Harry Potter. https://tinyurl.com/Caste-Trilogy-Part-3